A 21-Year-Old Was Allegedly Stabbed By Her Roommate After Hugging Him Goodbye

"It was me. I’m sorry."

Last Saturday was supposed to be 21-year-old Brooke Preston's last day in Florida before going home to Pennsylvania to start a new job and move in with her boyfriend. But according to the Palm Beach Post, her roommate is accused of stabbing and killing her shortly after she hugged him goodbye.

The roommate, 24-year-old Randy Herman, has been charged with first-degree murder and is currently in police custody, WNEP reports.

"Someone’s been murdered," Randy allegedly said when he called the 911 dispatcher, according to New York Daily News. "Just send the police. It was me. I'm sorry."

According to what a friend told police, the Palm Beach Post reports, Brooke hadn't felt comfortable staying in their house on Friday night because Randy, who she was not romantically involved with, had been drunk and acting strangely. When she returned Saturday to say goodbye, Randy, also from Pennsylvania, then gave her a memorial shirt for a friend of theirs who had passed away, according to police, the Palm Beach Post reported; a detective wrote in the report that Randy, "told me that all he could remember after giving Preston the T-shirt was blood."

When police arrived on the scene, WPTV reports that Randy told them that since they had been alone in the apartment, "it must have been me."

Randy allegedly stabbed Brooke with a hunting knife, the Palm Beach Postreports, and police found that her throat, back, and abdomen had a dozen stab wounds, in addition to defensive wounds on her hand.

"She was just so loved by everyone," Duraine Gayle, who worked with Brooke, told WPTV. "She made friends with everybody here. Brooke, I miss you and I love you and I just cannot believe it." A Go Fund Me page to help Brooke's family "bare the financial burden" that comes with the tragedy of their loved one's death has been created and raised close to $11,000 in a day.